Reid looked around the room he was in, he slowed his breathing despite being afraid for his actual life, Shaw's words about growing eyes in the back of his head and never seeing it coming echoed in his mind.
Another guard opened the door and in walked,
Natalie.
Reid's shoulders dropped, she was safe. He looked at her hopeful, she had tears in her eyes, he wasn't sure what to make of that.
Did the BAU do it? He tried not to let his hope rise until she spoke. He took her in, no matter what came next, he was glad to at least see her. What she said shocked him, it made him want to do backflips, something he'd never thought to try. His shoulders dropped a second time, he breathed a sigh of relief as Natalie smiled and said,
"We're taking you home."
He let himself gasp. She ran up to him, she wrapped her arms tight around her. His eyes swelled with tears as he reciprocated, wrapping her in an equally tight embrace.
They didn't exchange words. Natalie put her hand on his head, trying to squeeze him tighter.
They didn't want to let go, she hadn't been allowed to do this in so long even before his arrest. He wrapped his arms even tighter as she did. He shut his eyes, letting tears trickle down his face, Natalie let tears fall on to Reid's shoulder.
It was a little uncomfortable for Reid to stand in an embrace where he had to bend down far because of his height but he didn't care, he just couldn't let go of her yet.
He went to speak but Natalie shook her head, "We know, Spence. We know."
Alvez was standing with Shaw outside of his cell or old cell, rather but Shaw didn't know that yet. The guards were busy confiscating everything he had in there.
"You don't know who you're messing with, Alvez," Shaw told him.
Alvez nodded, "Yes, I do. Biggest cartels in the world run things through walls like this. There's no paper trail but based on your collections, I can tell, you're a, what, sergeant?"
Shaw didn't move, his face didn't change.
"You're rewarded because you got more time to get things done." Alvez continued.
"Let's say you're right. Then you know we're 8,000 strong. Not just inside these walls, but all over." Shaw countered.
"The bureau's 80,000 strong and you betrayed us. But it always comes back." Alvez told me.
Shaw turned his head, raising the corner of his lip, and flipping his hand up, "Good luck with that. After you leave, I'll have all my stuff back in a couple of hours."
Alvez's eyes grew wide, he nodded his head, and leaned forward slightly, "That would be impressive, seeing you do that from FCI MILAN."
Shaw's expression changed for the first time, "Hold up. You transferring me…to Michigan?"
Alvez stared him down, "mmhm. You won't get to see your son every week, and rumor has it that some of the Bratva family's holed up in there. You know, the Russian family that you double-crossed, to begin with and my understanding is that they are…" He waited a moment, finding the exact right word, "excited to see you."
Shaw changed his demeanor back.
Alvez asked, "You don't think they hold grudges, do you?" With that, he walked away.
The guards allowed Reid to change into the suit he had stored there from his trial.
Natalie and Alvez walked him outside.
He looked around outside the gate to see Garcia and Morgan, standing waiting for him.
Garcia ran to hug him first. He ran back without saying anything. Garcia sighed as she did. A moment she was so happy to have. All she felt in her heart at the moment was relief.
He then turned to Morgan, "Hey, Kid." Morgan greeted and embraced him.
Once Morgan let go of him, Reid looked at them, "Let's get my mom back."
They all agreed and began rushing back to the car to do their jobs that they were clearly so good at.
Reid arrived back at the BAU and the team filled him in on what they had so far.
The team had a lead to a house in southeast D.C. on where Lindsey might be keeping Reid's mom.
Hotch ordered a full break down of the house before sending any of the agents in there.
As the team went to their respective tasks, Hotch shut the door, Natalie stayed next to Reid, refusing to leave his side.
"Reid. You can't officially go until you're reinstated." Hotch told him.
"That includes going to my apartment since it's a crime scene," Reid said.
"That's right. It's sealed and guarded by metro P.D. but you're the resident. Understood?" Hotch asked.
"Understood," Reid said. He moved to the shut door as Hotch exited. Natalie close behind him.
"You don't have to stay with me, you know? It's okay." Reid told her.
"I know. I want to." She told him as she wrapped her arm in his.
Reid stood there for a minute, waiting.
Natalie then realized he was waiting for the door to be opened for him.
"It's open." She said, letting go of him for a moment.
"Right." He opened the door and the two were on their way to his apartment.
Natalie and Reid entered his apartment, she flashed her badge at the officer guarding the scene.
She pointed to Reid, "He's the resident. He's just going to grab a few things."
Reid walked in and he saw his scrapbook his mom and himself had gone through the day she verbally expressed not remembering him.
He sat down, staring at it for a minute, trying to flip the pages without actually turning them.
"What is it?" Natalie asked.
"This picture," He pointed to the one of his cut out head on a newspaper article with a tight rope walker on it, "was on a different page."
He picked the paper up, he flipped it over, the letters, XX-XY painted on the back in red.
"Does that mean something to you?" Natalie asked as she watched.
"Only the obvious, male and female chromosomes. It must be Lindsey's way of telling us she's with Scratch." Reid answered.
Natalie sighed, "Am I just making up the stuff with Cat? Is it just in my head? I mean, knowing what I know about Cat...the evidence loosely connects to Cat but concretely connects to Scratch."
"I don't think you are but when a lead is cold like the one with Cat has grown, I would say you have to follow the evidence but that's not always true. I don't know. Maybe it's not Lindsey's way of saying she's with Scratch." Reid replied.
Natalie crossed her arms, she stood next to the couch staring at the image, "It's Lindsey's way of telling us she's with Scratch or she's with Cat...this would be Cat's annoyance with gender bias, maybe?"
They both stared down at the image and then Reid got up to gather the rest of his belongings.
The entire BAU along with Alvez and aside from Reid and Natalie arrived at the house they believed Diana was in, in D.C.
"Morgan, Prentiss. Take the back. "Alvez, Rossi, and J.J. You're with me at the front." Hotch gave the orders.
Morgan didn't get to bust down the door this time, the team quietly picked the locks as they didn't want whoever was in the house to know they were coming.
Rossi, J.J., Alvez, and Hotch opened a door leading to two people with their backs turned,
"F.B.I. Show me your hands!" Morgan yelled as he entered the scene quickly.
"Hands up, now!" J.J. told them.
The two sitting there complied. The team assumed it was Scratch and Lindsey.
The team noticed the girl had an iPad in her hands.
"Put it down," Hotch commanded.
"It's for you!" The man said, shakily.
"Get up, turn around, slowly," Rossi told the pair in front of the team.
The two stood up, the team looked shocked as much as the pair of strangers in front of them looked terrified.
"Get down," Prentiss told them. She holstered her gun. Hotch walked towards them, holstering his too while the rest of the agents kept them pointed.
He walked toward the iPad the girl originally had.
"This is for you. She said it was for you, the F.B.I." The girl said, keeping her hands in the air.
Hotch used gloves when he turned the iPad on, he saw Cat Adam's face on the screen. They knew it was Cat because she had clearly recorded this in prison.
"Cat Adams?" Prentiss asked.
"Natalie was right." Morgan shook his head in disbelief.
Hotch nodded, he let the recording play.
"TA-DA, didn't expect me, did you? Impersonating Scratch was getting tiresome. Now, if the good doctor wants his mommy back, send him to me. He knows where to find me. After all, he put me here. But then again, I returned the favor, didn't I? Oh and one more thing. Natalie comes too or mommy doesn't get returned. We all have some unfinished business to attend to."
Morgan snickered a little at the 'didn't expect me' comment because her own sister did.
The team sent the clip to Garcia which she played for Reid and Natalie.
Natalie and Reid exchanged a look, "I was right...why would she-?" Natalie came to the conclusion as the unit chief walked in,
"Punishment."
The pair then saw the rest of the team follow behind.
"Right. Punishment." Natalie pointed to Reid.
"I've outsmarted her, more than once." Reid answered, "This is our best shot at finding my mom. We don't have anything else. The lead led us to her."
Natalie eyed Reid, "We can not give her what she wants, Spence."
"She has my mother. We don't have a choice." Reid said, firmly.
"There has to be-"
Reid cut her off, "We would find another way if we had time but we don't. She knows we found this. She'll be waiting."
Natalie looked to Hotch, pleadingly.
"I don't understand why she wants me there. If it's to torcher the two of us, why bring me in at all?"
"It's the game. She already has something planned, Adams." Morgan warned.
"How level headed can you both be with Cat?" Hotch asked.
Natalie swallowed, she thought about Connor and Reid in prison, she shook her head, not wanting to admit but they needed backup.
"Morgan?" Hotch asked.
Morgan nodded.
Natalie looked to the team, "How long has Cat been in solitary confinement?"
The team sort of looked stunned, "How did you know that?" Garcia asked.
"It was a guess. She is my twin." Natalie answered.
"It's been about 6 months," Garcia told her.
Morgan, Natalie, and Reid sighed. They knew they were about to walk into a terribly unstable situation. Natalie had been through something not quite like this but similar enough with Cat and Connor. She couldn't let this happen, again.
"How did I not see that this was Cat?" Natalie asked in frustration.
J.J. patted her back, "She's good at what she does. But so are we."
Natalie's eyes swelled, she looked at Reid, "Yeah but had we thought about it…we could have…"
"You can't do that," Prentiss told her.
"I'm out of prison, now," Reid added.
With that, Morgan, Reid, and Natalie headed off to Mount Pleasant Women's correctional facility.
Natalie, Reid, and Morgan stood outside the interview room.
"I'm right here," Morgan said, he looked to Reid first then to Natalie.
Reid shut his eyes, he stared at Natalie, he nodded.
They both took a deep breath.
The three of them entered the room.
Reid walked and positioned himself, standing directly in front of Cat.
Natalie stood next to him. Morgan shut the door and locked it. He stood near the window, arms crossed, ready.
Cat tilted her head, she looked to Natalie first, she didn't say her name, a deceitful smile inched across her face. Her hair greased, her eyes filled with bags underneath them, Cat looked sick but she wasn't, not physically anyway.
She moved her gaze to Reid. She bit her lip as she smiled, hands laid on the table, "Spencie." She sang.
A/N: Get ready for Red Light ;)